It was already noon, so Chen Qing made an appointment with Zhou Kuan to have lunch and drink tea at Qingfeng Teahouse. Chen Qing did not see his father-in-law Lu Jin. He was now the owner of Qingfeng Teahouse and focused all his attention on running the teahouse.
At the teahouse, usually in the teahouse, but Chen Qing also knows where his father-in-law is now?
Lu Jin opened another Qingfeng Teahouse in Nancheng. It was naturally a piece of land given to him by his daughter Lu Xiu, covering an area of about five acres. Lu Jin invested 10,000 yuan to build the shop, purchase tables, chairs and tea sets, and recruited people from Bianliang.
Five tea girls with beautiful looks and superb tea skills.
Qingfeng Teahouse, whose name was written by Chen Qing himself, caused a sensation in the south of the city as soon as it opened, and business was booming. It formed a trend of echoing the Qingfeng Teahouse in the north, and Qingfeng Teahouse ranked among the top three teahouses in the capital.
The first place is Wei's Longfeng Teahouse, the second place is the time-honored Chang'an Teahouse, and the third place is the new Qingfeng Teahouse.
It is late August now, when autumn tigers are rampant, so ice cubes are also placed in the Qing'an Teahouse, but the quantity is carefully controlled. It does not have the cool feeling of summer, but it is like a spring breeze and is very comfortable.
Chen Qing and Zhou Kuan sat down in their own seats. This was Chen Qing's private room and was not open to the public.
The two sat down and Zhou Kuan asked, "I heard that the negotiations in Lin'an broke down?"
In fact, the negotiations broke down a month ago, but this time Hu Yun wrote a detailed report and sent it to Jingzhao. He did not send a pigeon letter, so Chen Qing only received the report yesterday.
Chen Qing smiled and said: "As expected, they made unrealistic demands. Of course I asked for the Fujian Road."
Zhou Kuan smiled and said: "What if the emperor agrees? Will you give him your promise?"
Chen Qing shook his head, "He will never agree. You may not understand the importance of Fujian Road."
"Tell me, what's important?"
Chen Qing dipped his finger in some mouthwash and drew a sketch on the table, "There are four roads to take from Lin'an to Lingnan Road, one is Jinghu South Road, one is Jiangnan West Road, and the other is Fujian Road.
The other one is the sea route. Once I capture the Fujian Road, the Fujian Road will be connected with the Jiangnan West Road, and the Imperial and Lingnan Roads will be cut off from the land. In the end, I can only take the sea route, but the sea route is basically blocked by the Western Army.
Once I do not allow officials from the other side to cross the border, the imperial court will completely lose contact with the Lingnan Road. The only land controlled by the imperial court is Jiangnan East Road and Liangzhe Road. Both the emperor and the imperial court are well aware of its power, so
You will never agree to give up Fujian Road to me."
"But we are determined to win the Fujian Road, aren't we?"
Chen Qing nodded, "That's right. When I deployed Quanzhou, my purpose was to capture the entire Fujian Road. After the spring of next year at the latest, our navy will take action. Regardless of whether the court admits it or not, we must actually control Fujian.
road."
"It is estimated that the court will come to negotiate with you again. One wants face and the other wants honour."
"maybe!"
Chen Qingtan said: "If they want face, I can give them face and let them still own Fujian Road in name."
After the two of them had eaten, they each ordered a cup of tea. Zhou Kuan said: "I talked with Zhang Miao about the change of officials. I always felt that it was like changing the soup without changing the medicine. In fact, it was still the same thing. The governor and the magistrate had something to do with each other.
What's the difference?"
"The purpose of changing the name is to decouple from the imperial court. Legally speaking, the prefectures and counties are officials sent by the imperial court and have nothing to do with the Internal Affairs Bureau. But the governor and county magistrate have nothing to do with the imperial court. They are officials appointed by me and the Internal Affairs Bureau. This kind of decoupling is
The imperial court and I are taking the first step towards separation, so it seems that the state officials have not changed, but in fact they have changed, legally speaking.
In addition, there have been relatively big changes at the county level, with the addition of a county supervisor in charge of industry, agriculture, and mining, and the promotion of three supervisors to the ninth rank. In this way, there are eight court officials at the county level, although the burden on the court is heavier.
, but it will be of great benefit to the imperial court in controlling the county."
"I understand His Highness's thinking. It is necessary to strengthen the court's control over local areas. This is a good thing. You can try it first. If it doesn't work, we will slowly change it."
At this time, a soldier came in and whispered a few words to Chen Qing. Chen Qing smiled and nodded, "I understand, I'll go right away!"
"Something happened?"
"Zheng Tongquan is back and has just arrived in Jingzhao!"
Zhou Kuan suddenly became excited. Zheng Tongquan went to Japan to exchange pig iron for silver. This is a matter for the Finance and Taxation Department!
He quickly said: "I will go back to the government office with you!"
Chen Qing smiled and shook his head, "I'm not going back to the government office, I'm going to the dock!"
"Then go to the dock!"
The two ignored tea and got on the carriage and rushed to the Weihe pier. They saw Zheng Tongquan from a distance on the pier. He left in the spring and only came back in the autumn. After not seeing each other for half a year, he had obviously lost weight and looked a bit older.
.
Chen Qing secretly blamed himself, Zheng Tongquan was already sixty years old, and he couldn't let him cross the ocean and travel such a long distance again, just this once! Fortunately, they also sent several young officials to go with Zheng Tongquan.
Zheng Tongquan came up quickly and bowed, "See you, Your Highness!"
"Thank you for your hard work, Uncle Zheng!"
Zheng Tongquan was shocked. This was what Chen Qing called him more than ten years ago. He could hear Chen Qing's heartfelt gratitude to him, which made him feel inexplicably moved.
"Serving His Highness is a humble duty!"
Chen Qing nodded and said with a smile: "How is it? Is it successful?"
Zheng Tongquan looked at Zhou Kuan next to him. Seeing him stretching his neck and his eyes full of expectation, he smiled slightly and said: "Of course it's good news. Our pig iron was unexpectedly warmly welcomed. There is a war in Japan, so all the famous names are...
They come here to buy our pig iron, of course in exchange for silver, and gold, which is basically one tael of silver and one pound of iron."
Zhou Kuan was overjoyed, "You mean you came back in exchange for five hundred thousand taels of silver?"
Chen Qing smiled and said: "It should be more than that, he also brought armor, weapons and shields, right?"
Zheng Tongquan smiled bitterly and said: "It was sold, but it didn't sell very well. They don't like it very much."
"Why?" Chen Qing was puzzled. Since a war broke out, soldiers and armor were not welcome?
"It's because we didn't think carefully. The Japanese are very short, like children. Our armor doesn't fit them well, and the weapons are too heavy. They can't use the spears, so they have to change them again."
Chen Qing burst into laughter. He had forgotten this factor and seemed to want to customize armor specifically for Japan.
"You sold your armor and weapons at a loss?"
"How could it be possible to lose money? I just didn't get the huge profit I wanted. I originally wanted to get ten times the profit, but in the end I only got three times the profit. It feels uneconomical to travel such a long distance and only get three times the profit."
Chen Qing fully understood that Zheng Tongquan was not modest. Generally speaking, the profit from overseas trade was at least five times more, so he only got three times the profit, which was indeed a little less.
However, what they sell are old armors and weapons, which are worth half the price, and the triple profit is relative to the cost of the new armor, so they actually make six times the profit.
At this time, several officials stepped forward to salute. There were five officials in total. The leader was none other than Chao Kun. He rushed from Quanzhou to Dengzhou to join Zheng Tongquan and the others, and then went to Japan together.
These five officials will form the Overseas Trade Administration in the future, and Chao Kun will serve as the first director.
"How do you solve the problem of language barrier?"
Chao Kun quickly brought up a man of about thirty years old. The man knelt down and kowtowed to Chen Qing, "Young man Liu Qing pays homage to His Highness King Yong!"
"Please get up!"
Chen Qing glanced at Chao Kun and asked, "Who is he?"
Chao Kun introduced: "His father was from Quanzhou, Fujian Province. He followed his father to do business in Japan when he was very young. His father bought a shop at the port of Hizen State and became a merchant. He purchased the goods of Song Dynasty merchants and resold them to
Japanese businessmen, they have been in Japan for twenty years. His parents missed their hometown. This time I brought their family back. His parents returned to their hometown in Quanzhou. Liu Qing followed us to Jingzhao. He can speak the Japanese language.
, he is the one who is responsible for translating for us in Japan.”
"Not bad! Not bad!" Chen Qing praised sincerely. This Liu Qing is definitely a rare talent.
Zheng Tongquan smiled and said: "Your Highness, go to the ship and take a look at the cargo!"
Chen Qing nodded, and surrounded by everyone, he and Zhou Kuan walked towards the ship.